Thomas Steven Langham, 84, of Glenpool, Oklahoma went to be with the Lord early September 12, 2013 in his home surrounded by his family. He was born in Frederick, OK on July 29, 1929 to Pascal and Mary Langham. He graduated from Frederick High School in 1947. After serving in the Army, he completed his Bachelor of Science in Education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1952. He earned his Master’s degree in Education from Southeastern in 1958. He married Pauline May Townsend in Antlers, OK in 1952. He was a teacher and coach at Henrietta, Newkirk, Cleveland, Tulsa-Edison, and Tulsa-East Central High Schools. He retired as Athletic Director at Sapulpa High School in 1984. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006. … A memorial service will be held at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, at First Presbyterian Church of Sapulpa, Oklahoma. You are invited to stay and visit with the family after the service. … In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to First Presbyterian Church of Sapulpa in his memory. … This obituary was published in the Tulsa World on 9/15/2013.
Tom Langham was Edison’s head football coach my junior and senior years. Coach Langham was respected and liked by everyone, and it was obvious how much he wanted the best for his players. He pushed us hard, but never to the point of injury or harm.
Things I remember: Coach Langham would stand and point down the field with an oddly double-jointed elbow so that his outstretched arm described an impossible-looking angle.
Whenever the team’s practice habits were lackluster, Coach would say we "looked like we had the mocus". I’m not sure what the mocus is or how one gets it, but I’m sure Coach knew the mocus when he saw it. When blocking broke down, he’d say the defense poured in "like Grant took Richmond". A reference for the future history majors, I guess.
Coach Langham also coached swimming. I remember a famous yearbook "photobomb" (before that was a thing): Coach in the foreground, and the out-of-focus but clearly-visible backside of a changing swimmer in the background.
More than anything, it was obvious that Tom Langham chose coaching as a career, not because he had some giant competitive to feed, but because he knew he could have a positive impact on the character development of young men. Well done, Coach.
Langham was my swim coach Sophomore year and I had the utmost respect for him. He coached Edison swimming for a number of years prior and had some of the top teams in the State for a long time. Not bad for a football coach and he deservedly was given the head foorball coaching job our Junior year.
I didn’t realize until many years later that Tom coached football at Edison back in the ’60s and those teams did very well. Wish I could say the team for the two years he coached us. We did play hard though and had a lot of fun.
Coach Langham gave us swim lessons in the 50’s at Southwoods Country Club. He was so encouraging and kind. In 61′ I started babysitting his 2 little girls. He also worked with my brother in school and at Southwoods. Loved him and still tell people funny stories on how he got me to not be afraid of the water!